United States President Barack Obama spoke for more than half-an-hour on Wednesday in Brussels, Belgium, and the biggest part of his speech was dedicated to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict over the strategic Crimean peninsula.

The president, who has spent this week touring Europe to discuss the situation in Ukraine with America’s NATO partners, evoked two world wars and other international crises during a 30-minute speech that culminated in a passionate plea for allied nations to, as Mr. Obama said, “meet the challenge to our ideals” being presented by the situation in Crimea.

Pres. Obama stopped short of saying he was ready to up the ante as a standoff between Russia and the West continues with regards to the Crimean peninsula. He did, however, insist that America and its partners were prepared to together widen sanctions against Russia and further attempt to remove it from international discussions if that country continues its involvement in Ukrainian affairs.

“Together we have isolated Russia politically, suspending it from the G8 nations and downgrading our bilateral ties,” Obama said. “Together we are imposing costs through sanctions that have left a mark . . . And if the Russian leadership stays on its current course, together we will ensure that this isolation deepens.”

The president’s remarks came ten days after residents in Crimea — then an autonomous republic in southern Ukraine — overwhelmingly voted to sever ties and align with Russia. Moscow soon after accepted the results of that referendum, but the White House remains adamant that it not be recognized by the West.

Mr. Obama set the stage for Wednesday’s speech before a predominately younger crowd at The Center for Fine Arts in the heart of Brussels by recalling Europe’s vast history where, he said, a now internationally-accepted set of ideals first emerged “through centuries of struggles, through war and enlighten, repression and revolution.”

Those ideals, he added, include “The belief that through conscious and free will each of us has the right to live as we chose,” and “The belief that power is derived from the consent of the governed, and that laws and institutions should be to protect that understanding.”

“Those ideals have often been threatened by an older, more traditional view of power,” Mr. Obama added, before later calling out Russia specifically for its recent annexation of Crimea.

“Once again,” he said later, “we are confronted with the belief among some that bigger nations can bully smaller ones to get their way. That recycled maxim that might, somehow, makes right. So I come here today to insist that we must never take for granted the progress that has been won here in Europe and advanced around the world, because the contest of ideas continues for your generation, and that’s what’s at stake in Ukraine today.”

Speaking of Russia’s handling of Crimea in recent weeks, Obama equated it to redrawing Europe’s border with force despite those hallowed ideals ensuring that “people in nations can make their own decisions about their future.”

The need to condemn Russia internationally, Obama said, is not self-serving.

“To be honest, if we define our interests narrowly, if we applied a cold hearted calculus, we might decide to look the other way,” he said. “Our economy is not deeply integrated with Ukraine’s. Our people and our homeland face no direct threat from the invasion of Crimea. Our own borders are not threatened by Russia’s annexation. But that kind of casual indifference would ignore the lessons that are written in the cemeteries of this continent. It would allow the old way of doing things to regain a foothold in this young century. And that message would be heard not just in Europe, but in Asia and the Americas, in Africa and the Middle East. And the consequences that would arise from complacency are not abstractions.”

At the same time, though, the president did not defer allegations that his own country has acted hypocritically when it comes to Crimea following decades of US-led military operations overseas. The president specifically cited the Iraq War, and acknowledged that it was the subject of vigorous debate both in America and abroad.

“But even in Iraq, America sought to work within the international system,” he said. “We did not claim or annex Iraq’s territory. We did not grab its resources for our own gain. Instead we ended our war, and left Iraq to it people in a fully sovereign Iraqi state that can make decision about its own future.”

“Of course, neither the US nor Europe are perfect in adherence to our ideals, nor do we claim to be the sole arbiter of what is right or wrong in the world—we are humans after all, and we face difficult decisions about how to exercise our power.” The difference, he decried, as that the US “welcome[s] the responsibilities that come with global leadership.”

“These Ukrainians rejected a government that was stealing from the people instead of serving them, and are reaching for the same ideals that allow us to be here today,” he added. “None of us know for certain what the coming days will bring in Ukraine, but I am confident that eventually those voices — those voices for human dignity and for opportunity and individual rights and rule of law — those voices ultimately will triumph.”

The International Monetary Fund is currently discussing plans that will reportedly allow Ukraine to receive a substantial bail out of roughly $15 billion amidst a dire financial situation there only worsened by the recent turmoil and last month’s ousting of then president Viktor Yanukovych. On Wednesday, though, Obama said that the interim Ukrainian government will continue to receive not just financial aid, but the backing in spirit of the US and its allies.

“Sanctions will expand and the toll on Russia’s economy as well as its standing in the world will only increase,” Obama said, if the Crimea crisis worsens. “And meanwhile the US and our allies will continue to support the government of Ukraine as they chart a democratic course.”

“[W]e live in a world in which our ideals are going to be challenged again and again by forces that would drag us back into conflict or corruption. We can’t count on others arise to meet those tests: the policies of your government, the principles of your European Union, will make a critical difference in whether or not the international order that so many generations before you have strived to create continues to move forward or whether it retreats,” he said.

“That’s the question we all must answer: What kind of Europe, what kind of America, what kind of world will we leave behind? And I believe that if we all hold firm to our principles and are willing to back our beliefs with courage and resolve, then hope will ultimately overcome fear, and freedom will continue to triumph over tyranny. Because that is what forever stirs in the human heart,” he concluded his address.

Barack Obama is effectively a tool of the collapsing Western financial system, that has declared war on Russia and its allies, Lawrence Freeman from Executive Intelligence Review Magazine told RT, adding that Ukraine crisis was arranged to weaken Russia.

RT:The US President said that we're not facing a new Cold War yet. He has also called on Russia to be deeply isolated - how do these points come together, how do they even work side by side?

Lawrence Freeman: First of all you should not believe what President Obama says. We are in a very dangerous situation that could escalate to a world war. The decisions that President Obama’s made are not his own. He is a effectively a tool of Wall Street and the British financial system, and they have declared war on Russia and President Putin because of the leadership role that Russia plays in the whole Eurasian continent, which is moving in a different direction.

The financial system of the Western countries is in a full state of collapse and that is what is driving this President and the Europeans to this escalating war against Russia and also China. So I wouldn’t believe President Obama because he actually is not that intelligent, and not his own person.

RT:When condemning Russia’s reunification with Crimea, Obama said that all comparisons with Kosovo are irrelevant. He said: “We did not annex Iraq’s territory. We did not grab its resources for our own gain. Instead we ended our war and left Iraq to its people in a fully sovereign Iraqi state that can make decisions about its own future.” It sounds like he is saying he knew his actions there were more understandable than Russia’s actions in Crimea – because Washington never annexed Iraq. What do you make of those parallels?

LF: Again, we know what the real truth of the matter is. The US government, President Obama, using people from the Cheney administration – of Cheney and Bush – organized a coup in Kiev. Victoria Nuland, who used to work for Cheney, has been organizing, she said, for several years to overthrow the government. We worked with well-known neo-nazis and right wing fascists to illegally overthrow the government in late February. And this was done to try and provoke President Putin in Russia into a response.

And Russians responded by allowing the people of Crimea to rejoin Russia, which they have a great long heritage to. So who is responsible for the situation in Ukraine? It’s the deliberate policy of the US and the Western under this financial system to try to weaken Russia, as an effort to weaken Eurasian-Russian policies for economic development.

RT:Obama stressed neither US nor Europe are interested in controlling Ukraine. Do you find this believable?

LF: Of course not. We wanted to use Ukraine, which is a very large country with a long border with Russia. We want to weaken Russia. Because, if you look what Russia is doing with China, with India, with other countries – they are moving forward in terms of economic development, space technology, energy development, infrastructure.

The West right now is going through the most severe financial economic collapse in its history. In Europe and now in the United States, our food supply is dwindling, our energy supplies are not there, we have no forward progressive development. And so the Western financial powers are using Obama and intended to use Ukraine to weaken Russia.

And that is why we went for this overthrow of government in Kiev. And this is blatantly clear. And Victoria Nuland who is a leftover from the Cheney administration made it clear publicly. She picked a new government and said that we spent 20 years and $5 billion building up the so-called pro-democracy forces in Ukraine to overthrow the government. And they hoped that they can go from there to actually overthrowing the Russian government, which the former US ambassador McFaul stated quite clearly, that that is the intention that he had when he was the ambassador, as part of this project democracy networks was to bring in a new government and a new regime into Russia.

So there is no truth to what Obama is saying and you do not forget you get into war, a world war usually by mistakes and miscalculations, not by what people say but what they intend to do. And Russia and China are an enemy of the Western global financial system right now.

President Obama denounced Russia's "brute force" in Ukraine during a speech in Brussels today, but it seems from the images and clips below that Russia cares little for words and is more about strategic actions for now. Russia now, reportedly,controls 51 Ukraine Navy ships and while Merkel is talking tough, she is careful not to be too aggressive in her call for escalation. Talking of escalation,Russia tanks were being moved en masse across the nation to various borders.

After the annexation of Crimea, however, there was a military deescalation.Sources told us that the Russian troops were in position, but were no longer on the move in large numbers, and were not yet massed in large enough numbers that an invasion would be possible. Earlier this week, however, NATO began to once again raise the alarm that Russian forces were gathering to potentially invade Ukraine, or even move on to Moldova. Today, there are reports that Russian troops are indeed on the move near Ukraine’s borders.

...

There is another key difference. Much of the equipment spotted on the move today are not just troop transports and APCs. What we are seeing is reports of main battle tanks, support equipment, and other heavy weaponry. If Russia was not ready to invade two weeks ago, could these reinforcements be enough for an invasion?

Russian Tanks near the Ukrainian border

And MPCs on the roads

Furthermore, on the bypass road near Belgorod, more than 25 Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters have been spotted

Julia Karmo of Sky News Broadcasting has geolocated this video, which was taken yesterday in Novozybkov, in the Bryansk region of Russia. Karmo notes that the trains are on tracks that lead to towards Belarus or towards Ukraine.

and Somova, north-northeast from Voronezh

But the good news is that Gazprom...

*NAFTOGAZ UKRAINY SAYS GAS DEBT TO GAZPROM IS $1.7B: KOBOLYEV

might finally get paid

*UKRAINE-IMF ANNOUNCEMENT 'MOST LIKELY' TOMORROW, LAPPO SAYS

And while Merkel is talking tough

*MERKEL SAYS RUSSIA RISKS 'TOUGH RESPONSE' IF CRISIS ESCALATES

She is also backing away...

*MERKEL SAYS SHE HOPES TO AVOID ESCALATION OF SANCTIONS

Leaving Obama to do the talking...

President Obama offered a sustained and forceful rejoinder against Russia on Wednesday, denouncing the “brute force” he said it has used to intimidate neighbors like Ukraine and vowing that the United States “will never waver” in standing up for its NATO allies against aggression by Moscow.

“We’ve already licensed, authorized the export of as much natural gas each day as Europe uses each day; but it’s going into the open market; it’s not targeted directly,” President Obama says.

“It’s going through private companies who get these licenses and they make decisions on the world market about where that energy is going to be sold,” Obama says at news conference in Brussels

Time for another executive order? We suspect a 50% gas price hike may just be another tipping point...(as we noted before)

What is certain, is that the struggling population, most of whom never wanted the recent political overhaul and were quite happy with life as it was, will suddenly demand a return to the living standards under the old, if "horrible" regime, and demand an even quicker overhaul of the current administration.

Ukraine agreed to pay close to $180 for every thousand cubic meters of natural gas it gets next year from Russia, Russia's state-run gas monopoly said, marking a nearly 40% increase over current prices.

The deal, which comes after months of negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, is part of what Russia describes as an effort to stop giving energy supplies to former Soviet republics at cut-rate prices.

That effort escalated into a full-blown dispute two years ago, when Russia cut supplies to Ukraine. The dispute affected some European countries, raising concerns about Russia's reliability as Europe's main energy supplier.

OAO Gazprom said Ukraine agreed in a deal signed by Ukrainian Energy Minister Yury Boiko to pay $179.50 for every thousand cubic meters it buys from Russia next year. Gazprom said transit prices would be set at $1.70, the price for gas shipping across Russia.

Ukraine currently pays $130 for every thousand cubic meters of gas from Russia.

In October, Russia urged Ukraine to make good on what it said was a $1.3 billion debt for gas shipments, a demand described by some Ukrainian officials as an effort to influence Ukrainian politics after September's parliamentary elections.

The deal comes a week after Gazprom said it would pay as much as 50% more next year for natural gas from Turkmenistan. Russia controls nearly all gas exports from the Central Asian nation.

Funny how history not only rhymes, but sometimes repeats itself. Verbatim.

In its invasion and annexation of Crimea, Russia has seized 51 vessels belonging to the Ukrainian navy, according to information compiled by Dmitry Tymchuk, director of the Center of Military and Political Research in Kyiv.

The Cherkasy was the last of the ships to have been overtaken following weeks of threats and ultimatums to surrender. It was finally chased down and overtaken by the Russian navy on March 25 after failing to slip past a blockade of two ships intentionally sunk by the Russians to trap it and other vessels in a narrow gulf, keeping them from escaping into the Black Sea.

Russia has captured 51 vessels belonging to Ukraine's navy, according to information gathere by the Center of Military and Political Research in Kyiv. (Infographic: Rusudan Tsiskreli)

As of March 26, just 10 Ukrainian vessels remained in its navy's possession, including frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy, gunboat Skadovsk, intelligence ship Pereyaslav and diving vessel Netishin.

Ukraine Only Has Enough Gasoline For A Month

Nothing to see here, move along. While it appears the Russians are willing to pay the price of modest sanctions from the west to 'liberate' their fellow countrymen, the fallout from further tension with Ukraine could "boomerang" once again on the divided nation. As RBC Ukraine reports, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Prodan said at a press conference today that "oil reserves will last for 28-29 days" in Ukraine. After that, the negotiation begins as Ukraine already owes billions for previously delivered gas - as Ukraine's storage levels more than halved in the last 3 months.

Stocks of petroleum products in Ukraine will last for 28-29 days, said at today's press conference, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Prodan.

"Speaking on the situation with oil, then ensure there is quite stable. Today oil reserves will last for 28-29 days," - he said, the " RBC-Ukraine . "

At the same time, the Minister noted the significant risk reduction in the supply and rising gas prices. As of March 25, 2014 in Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities located 7 billion cubic meters of gas.

"Up there can be about 2 billion is not the quantity that scares experts, it would be possible to hold only a week. It all depends on what kind of regime will be whether we can take about 20 million cubic meters. Meters of gas to reverse and so on "- said Prodan.

According to the company "Ukrtransgaz" abnormally warm winter 2013 2014. has reduced gas extraction from underground storage by an average of 37% compared to the same period last year: it was 60 million cubic meters per day.

In late December 2013. occupied at the time the post of Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Edward Stawicki reported that Ukrainian gas reserves in underground storage is 16.5 billion cubic meters.

We suspect any further military intervention will only crimp this supply even faster.

http://rt.com/news/yarosh-nationalist-resign-killing-157/

Ukraine Only Has Enough Gasoline For A Month

Nothing to see here, move along. While it appears the Russians are willing to pay the price of modest sanctions from the west to 'liberate' their fellow countrymen, the fallout from further tension with Ukraine could "boomerang" once again on the divided nation. As RBC Ukraine reports, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Prodan said at a press conference today that "oil reserves will last for 28-29 days" in Ukraine. After that, the negotiation begins as Ukraine already owes billions for previously delivered gas - as Ukraine's storage levels more than halved in the last 3 months.

Stocks of petroleum products in Ukraine will last for 28-29 days, said at today's press conference, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Prodan.

"Speaking on the situation with oil, then ensure there is quite stable. Today oil reserves will last for 28-29 days," - he said, the " RBC-Ukraine . "

At the same time, the Minister noted the significant risk reduction in the supply and rising gas prices. As of March 25, 2014 in Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities located 7 billion cubic meters of gas.

"Up there can be about 2 billion is not the quantity that scares experts, it would be possible to hold only a week. It all depends on what kind of regime will be whether we can take about 20 million cubic meters. Meters of gas to reverse and so on "- said Prodan.

According to the company "Ukrtransgaz" abnormally warm winter 2013 2014. has reduced gas extraction from underground storage by an average of 37% compared to the same period last year: it was 60 million cubic meters per day.

In late December 2013. occupied at the time the post of Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Edward Stawicki reported that Ukrainian gas reserves in underground storage is 16.5 billion cubic meters.

We suspect any further military intervention will only crimp this supply even faster.

Dmitry Yarosh, leader of Ukraine's Right Sector nationalist party, is demanding the resignation of acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and the arrest of police officers involved in the killing of notorious radical militant Aleksandr Muzychko.

"We cannot watch silently as the Interior Ministry works to undermine the revolution," Interfax reported Yarosh as saying. “We demand the immediate resignation of the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, and the arrest of the commander of the Sokol Special Forces and those guilty of [Muzychko’s] murder."

Earlier Tuesday, right-wing militant leader Muzychko, also known as Sashko Bilyi, was killed in a police raid against his gang in Rovno, western Ukraine, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Right Sector leaders threatened Avakov with revenge, though they did not specify exactly what they would do.

“We will take revenge on Arsen Avakov for the death of our brother,” said Roman Koval, the Right Sector organizer in Rovno, charivne.info news portal reported.

Koval claimed that the operation to kill Muzychko was ordered personally by Avakov, the acting Interior Minister.

Yarosh backed the claim, adding that the party views Muzychko’s killing as an assassination. The Right Sector leader said that the party understands that “many want to destabilize the situation in Ukraine,” but added that the nationalists “call for peace” and are doing everything in their power to prevent conflicts.

Muzychko is, however, known for stunts that are far from peaceful.

Following the coup in Kiev, the far-right militant refused to give up the weapons which he occasionally used to intimidate government officials in the city of Rovno, in western Ukraine. Hethreatened local authorities with an AK-47 and made openly anti-Semitic statements on videos which were then posted on YouTube.

Ukraine filed charges of hooliganism and obstructing law enforcement agencies against Muzychko on March 8. Four days later he was put on the Ukrainian police’s wanted list.

Ukraine's top cop accepts challenge

Avakov said in a reply to Right Sector that he accepts the far-right group’s challenge, adding that his stance toward lawbreakers will be harsh.

"If some gangsters threaten the minister, I accept this challenge and I am ready to accept any challenge, because that's my job,” Avakov said in a statement. “Henceforth my policy will be very harsh toward bandits, toward those who take up arms to violate order."

By “bandits,” Avakov said he was referring to people who loot enterprises or homes and possess unregistered guns.

Earlier, Russia put both Muzychnko and Yarosh on the international wanted list for allegedly torturing and murdering at least 20 captured Russian soldiers during the first Chechen War in 1994-1995.

On March 16, Yarosh threatened to sabotage Russian pipelines on the Ukrainian territory.

Yarosh has headed the ultra-right Stepan Bandera All-Ukrainian Organization Trizub since 2005. During the Maidan protests, the organization became the basis for the Right Sector movement.

On Saturday, the movement announced it would become a political party. In a statement it slammed the current authorities in Kiev and demanded early parliamentary elections, nominating Yarosh for president.

Right Sector members were very active in the violence which triggered the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich. The group’s fighters used clubs, petrol bombs and firearms against Ukrainian police and have been wearing Nazi insignia.

Training in hand combat among opposition fighters from the nationalist organization "Right sector" in a camp on Independence Square in Kiev. (RIA Novosti/Andrey Stenin)

“The current government in Kiev came to power with the help of the Right Sector. They wouldn’t have got the power without the Right Sector. It was the force that was torching government buildings, using the violence to get them into power. Now they’ve become an embarrassment to them. I think there are two reasons why this has happened.

“First of all the new authorities in Kiev want to get the Right Sector into government security operator organizations – they want them to join the National Guard, they want them to lay down their weapons , because they are frightened that they will be an alternative force in the country, which could threaten them in time. I think that the second reason is the PR angle. They are an embarrassment to the new government in Ukraine, which is being sold as a wonderfully progressive, democratic government,” he said.

Ukrainian nationalist group Right Sector has announced it holds the acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accountable for the death of notorious radical militant Aleksandr Muzychko and will avenge it, Ukrainian media reports.

“We will take revenge on Arsen Avakov for the death of our brother,” said Rovno coordinator of the Right Sector Roman Koval, as cited by charivne.info news portal. “The shooting of Sashko Bilyi [Muzychko’s nom de guerre] is an assassination ordered by the minister. Muzychko never received any notices concerning criminal offences and was never summoned anywhere.”

At a press conference dedicated to Muzychko‘s death, First Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Yevdokimov announced that charges of hooliganism and obstructing law enforcement agencies had been filed against Muzychko March 8, and on March 12 Muzychko was put on the Ukrainian police’s wanted list.

Yevdokimov provided a dramatic version of the events leading up to Muzychko’s death.

The operation to arrest him took place in a village near Rovno, where the militant leader and three of his bodyguards, all of them armed, were in a local restaurant, called “The Three Crucians.”

An assault group from the Sokol special police task force stormed the restaurant to detain Muzychko and his henchmen. The militant leader made an attempt to flee through a window. He opened fire, and two of his bullets wounded a police officer, who returned fire and shot Muzychko in the leg. Other police officers shot in the air, Yevdokimov said.

Aleksandr Muzychko (Still from YouTube video/TVRivne1)

Even after Muzychko fell to the ground, he continued shooting.

“When [the police] attempted to detain him, they found out he was wounded. The medics who arrived at the scene proclaimed Muzychko dead,” Yevdokimov said.

The three bodyguards, who were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and Makarov pistols, were detained by police.

Muzychko himself earlier said he believed he could be killed. In a video address recently posted on YouTube he said that the leadership of “the Prosecutor General's office and the Interior Ministry of Ukraine made a decision to either eliminate me or to capture me and hand me over to Russia, to then blame it all on the Russian intelligence.”

The man was known for his radicalism, attacks on local officials during the coup in Kiev, and refusing to give up arms after the new authorities were imposed.

Under the name Sashko Bilyi, he took an active part in the First Chechen War in 1994-1995, when he headed a group of Ukrainian nationalists fighting against Russian troops.

Russia’s Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Aleksandr Muzychko in early March. The Ukrainian was accused of torturing and murdering at least 20 captured Russian soldiers as he fought alongside Chechen militants.

Aleksandr Muzychko came under the spotlight of the Russian authorities after a series of scandals in Ukraine, when the radical nationalist leader went on with the rampage against regional authorities, lashing out at a local prosecutor, threatening local authorities with an AK-47 and making openly anti-Semitic statements.

http://rt.com/news/ukraine-government-fascists-gysi-997/

Instead of finding common ground with Russia, the West continues to escalate tensions with inefficient sanctions and rhetoric while provocatively supporting the illegitimate Kiev government, German Left opposition leader Gregor Gysi told RT.

Gysi, a parliamentary head of the largest lower-house opposition party in Germany – The Left – has recently spoken out against German Chancellor Merkel's support of the coup-appointed Ukrainian government. RT caught up with Gysi to further discuss his opinion on the volatile Ukraine crisis.

RT:How do you assess the situation in Ukraine?

Gregor Gysi: We have a very strained situation, but I am not considering it hopeless. Of course I have a criticism towards Putin's politics when he tries to rebuild influence with an old thinking, but I also have very much criticism towards NATO and the EU. They have not realized back in 1990 that they should create a new security organization, with no Warsaw pact and no NATO. Not without Russia, nor against Russia, but with Russia – a common security alliance. And against promises that were given during the time of German reunification, the further expansion of NATO towards the east took place so that Russia slowly would become encircled. Then there were missiles stationed in Poland and Czech Republic...the Russian side has said that it reduces its security, but the Western side was not interested in hearing that.

Then, they said that those missiles are not targeting Russia. That's when the Russian foreign minister said to his US counterpart: 'If we install rockets in Mexico, would you trust us if we say it's against Colombia or Cuba, and has nothing to do with the USA?' Of course they would not believe in that, but in spite of that it [missiles installation in Europe] has happened.

Then there were other mistakes. I don't want to go into too many details. George W. Bush has suggested to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO. Naturally it was a provocation, even the former American minister of defense said that.

And then it came to the issue of Ukraine, where it came to tensions between two sides – Russia and the EU – when they said: ‘Either you enter into the alliance with us or with the other.’ And nobody has realized that Ukraine should have been a bridge between the EU and Russia, and that is bothering me.

Now there are talks of sanctions against Russia and also against the former Ukrainian president and his staff. And I see it as one sided. Why not also against the oligarchs that supported the opposite side? There is a lot of Ukranian property located in France and other countries, and both sides have contributed to the current situation...

I think, as Russia pointed it out, that sanctions against it are wrong. And I find it wrong alone that they say: 'We need to bring NATO all the way to the borders.’ I see it the other way around...I would go for a diplomatic way to engage Russia and propose to them a new relationship with the EU and NATO, to find a security concept with Russia, not against it or without it. I would expand trade relations, under one condition: that there would be no more countries or parts of them that would be turned into a Russian territory.

But we have to have a positive approach. You can try to reach your goals with sanctions – usually it has not much of an effect – or go positive where we say: ‘We can have much better relationship, but you have to stop, after Crimea, spreading to further parts of Ukraine and turning them into Russia.’

I think that would have been my vision of a positive development that we all urgently need. But as you can see, the situation is the other way around.

A member of the Right Sector movement guards a barricade in central Kiev (Reuters / Baz Ratner)

RT:Are you concerned about far-right radicalism in the Ukrainian government?

Gregor Gysi: Yes, there are real fascists in the government. They are currently in leading positions. They have the vice-prime minister position, defense minister, and minister of agriculture and environment minister positions. Besides that, there is the co-founder of Svoboda party, who is not a member of this party right now, but he is in charge of the security committee, some sort of intelligence service.

Of course there are democratic forces in the government, but fascists never give up the power they have got hold of.

There are terrible quotes, awful quotes from them, and I am not alone standing here. There are members of Social Democrats and a former EU commissioner who said they won't speak a word with those people.

I don't understand how they can sign any agreements with them. It's again a provocation, they want to send money over...

Right now you have to demand a democratic election, then you have a democratic government, and then you can negotiate with them. I don't understand why it has to happen now? I see it as another step towards escalation instead of opposite direction.

And I have to say that the government that is installed right now is not a legitimate one. The former president was removed from power but not properly voted out, at least not according to the constitution. And then when I hear that the Crimean referendum is illegitimate according the constitution, then I ask my government: ‘Well, is the constitution valid or not?’ But I am not getting any answers.

Crimea and Sevastopol have officially joined Russia as President Putin signed a final decree. The US and the EU are moving forward with more sanctions, targeting Russian officials, businessmen and economic sectors.

Tuesday, March 25

11:24 GMT:

Ukraine’s acting defense minister, Igor Tenyukh, has been dismissed - at the second attempt. Earlier in the morning Tenyukh said in the parliament that he was resigning. Only 197 MPs voted for his dismissal, 29 MPs short of the simple majority of 226 votes was needed to approve it. Later Tenyukh’s resignation was put on agenda once again after consultations between fractions. This time, 228 MPs voted for his dismissal.

Mikhail Koval, a colonel-general of Ukraine’s border security troops, was appointed as the new acting defense minister.

01:10 GMT:

The US Senate with a 78-17 vote has advanced a bill aimed at providing a $1 billion loan and an additional $150 million in economic assistance to Ukraine’s coup-installed government. The bill also seeks to codify the US economic and political sanctions imposed on Russia following Crimea’s decision to secede from Ukraine and become a part of the Russian Federation.

The bill is also designed to shift US contributions to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enable the allocation of additional loans to Ukraine. However, the IMF reform clause may stall the legislation in the House, as many Republicans oppose it as “unnecessary.”

00:38 GMT:

A UN General Assembly (UNGA) draft resolution on the situation in Ukraine is being circulated among 193 countries that are members of the world organization, UNGA spokesman Afaf Gongju told Ria Novosti.

The document, which will be submitted for discussion at the plenary session on March 27, will urge member states not to recognize the results of the March 16 referendum in Crimea, claiming it cannot "serve as the basis for any status change to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol."

Monday, March 24

22:56 GMT:

Permanent representative of the self-imposed President of Ukraine in Crimea Sergey Kunitsyn (MP Udar Party) has resigned from his post. He has also criticized the inaction of Ukrainian authorities in connection with the situation on the Crimean peninsula, saying that he is“ashamed,” Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reports, citing Kunitsyn.

20:00 GMT:

Claims that security guarantees to Ukraine were undermined mustn’t become an excuse for the country to try to obtain nuclear weapons, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at the nuclear security summit in The Hague.

“The consequences will be severe as to regional security and the integrity of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. It shouldn’t serve as excuse to seek nuclear weapons, leading to even greater disintegration and reduction of the security,” he stressed.

Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenals back in 1994 as part of the Budapest Memorandum in exchange for security guarantees, but the country’s coup-imposed government in now considering a withdrawal from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

19:38

19:36 GMT:

Ukrainian troops in Crimea have not yet received an order to leave the place of their deployment, Vladislav Seleznyov, spokesman for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry in Crimea, told Interfax-Ukraine.

“As for the situation in Crimea, as far as I know, the order to the troops to hold position still stands. It was voiced by the defense minister and I have heard of no other orders,” Seleznyov stressed.

Earlier on Monday, Ukraine’s coup-imposed acting president, Aleksandr Turchinov, said the Defense Ministry has been instructed to withdraw its troops and their families from Crimea.

17:30 GMT:

Moscow has demanded that Kiev takes measures to provide security for all Russian official representation offices in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry has stated. The move comes after a group of ultra-nationalists in Kiev attempted to break into a building rented by the Russian Center of Science and Culture (RCSC).

The attackers announced they were willing to house their headquarters at the office as well as to use RCSC’s possession and equipment – “which are the property of the Russian Federation.” According to the ministry, the group also stole the vehicle belonging to the center.

The attackers only left the building and returned the car when Ukrainian law enforcers took action at the request of Russian embassy employees and the RCSC.

Russian diplomats say the incident became possible because the “new Ukrainian leadership has lost control over the situation in Kiev.”

17:13 GMT:

A draft bill on Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States, the CIS – the union of several former Soviet republics – has been passed to the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

Japan could provide $1.5 bln aid to Ukraine when country agree reform package with IMF

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga: "It is extremely important that each country in the international community gives support so that Ukraine, facing a severe economic situation amid political confusion, will be able to restore economic stability"

Japan to offer $1.5 billion in aid to Ukraine amid Russia crisis

The Japanese government has confirmed that it will give financial aid of $1.5 billion to Ukraine. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the aid as he and fellow leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama canceled a G8 meeting, which was replaced by a G7 meeting with the exclusion of Russia.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the aid is to help Kiev as the current crisis drains the nation’s finances. “It is extremely important that each country in the international community gives support so that Ukraine, facing a severe economic situation amid political confusion, will be able to restore economic stability,” Suga said. He added, “Against that background, the prime minister announced that Japan will provide economic assistance of up to 150 billion yen (roughly US$1.5 billion) on condition that the Ukraine government will reach an agreement with the (International Monetary Fund) on economic reforms. Of the sum, 110 billion yen will be (low-interest) yen loans.” While meeting at The Hague, the G7 said it would issue tougher sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea. The relationship between the former Soviet Union and the West turned icy over the crisis, which has resulted in Crimea choosing to become part of Russia.

Japan, who has seen improved ties with Russia in the past months before the Ukraine crisis erupted, was forced to tighten screws on its relationship with Moscow, along with the U.S. and its other allies. Prime Minister Abe has been to multiple summits with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as both exert effort to widen economic ties on energy imports, such as much-needed natural gas by the island nation. He was also one of the few pro-Western leaders who attended the Sochi Olympic opening ceremonies as other nations attempted to distance themselves from the nation. With Japan’s move to isolate Putin over the Crimean issue, many expect that the amicable relations built by the two recently will crumble and further delay the signing of a formal treaty to end hostilities rooting from World War II.